Occupy Protesters To Hold First State-Wide Convention In Florida
Protesters from sixteen different cities will be holding the first-state wide conference of Occupy protesters this weekend. The “purpose of the conference, according to an Occupy Orlando spokesperson, will be to devise a list of desired legislative changes to be delivered on the first day of the Florida legislative session. Those involved in protests from all over the state will march on Tallahassee to deliver the plan directly to the State Capitol on January 10, 2012.” Support the 99 Percent Movement!
1% Gets Dramatically Richer – 99 Percent Gets Poorer!
Trends in the Distribution of Household
Income Between 1979 and 2007
(Congressional Budget Office)
CBO finds that, between 1979 and 2007, income grew by:
- 275 percent for the top 1 percent of households,
- 65 percent for the next 19 percent,
- Just under 40 percent for the next 60 percent, and
- 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent.
The share of income going to higher-income households rose, while the share going to lower-income households fell.
- The top fifth of the population saw a 10-percentage-point increase in their share of after-tax income.
- Most of that growth went to the top 1 percent of the population.
- All other groups saw their shares decline by 2 to 3 percentage points.
SUPPORT THE 99 Percent Movement!
Join The 99 Percent Movement!
The 99 Percent Movement is a simple movement. It is about the 99% of people in this country who are being controlled by the 1% that holds almost all the money & power in this country. It is about waking the American people up to the facts about the greedy 1% and how they run this country on our backs. “We The People’ just means the 1% in this day and age. It has been this way for many lifetimes and it is only getting worse.
Although this image is pretty telling, it isn’t the whole story.
This movement is not necessarily against Wall Street, corporations, government; it is against Wall Street influencing Supreme Court decisions and governmental policy. It is against corporations being called “people” and being allowed to buy politicians and votes anonymously by the Supreme Court (see Citizens United) and politicians like Mitt Romney. This movement represents people from all communities, all action groups, all people who have had their voice and vote stolen by lobbyists and special interests that are buying the votes of the representatives of you, me, WE the People! It represents all who want their representatives and senators, both state and federal, to listen to the 99 percent rather than only the 1 percent. This movement includes Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers. This protest is not against the government, it is about getting the government listening to the people and being held accountable by the people. If you aren’t for this … What are you for?
The corporate media, when they reluctantly give coverage to the movement at all, claim there is no coherent message or agenda. You’ll hear and read that nobody really knows what it’s all about— is it anti-government? Anti-corporate America? Is it environmental activism, pro-jobs? Who are these people? Unemployed slackers? Liberals? Conservatives? Students with nothing better to do? Small business owners? Women’s and Civil rights advocates? Who ARE these people?
THEY ARE US, FOLKS! WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT!
That means this movement is about making OUR voices heard — even if I stand next to someone who wants something different than me, we just want our voices to be heard rather than just the 1%! We don’t have the money to buy the votes and influence legislation (see Koch Brothers), and even if we did, we wouldn’t do it because that’s not what this country is supposed to be about! This is a Republic. Representatives are supposed to be making policy based on what their constituents want, not corporations.
Speak up, Everyone! Make your voices be heard, finally! And, if you can’t attend a protest, at least support those who do – They are fighting for you and your children.
Oakland California Police Attack US Citizens
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The scene was calm but tense early Wednesday as a crowd of hundreds of protesters dwindled to just a few dozen at the site of several clashes between authorities and supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement a night earlier. Police in riot gear stood watch only a few yards away from a group of stalwart demonstrators in the aftermath of skirmishes in front of City Hall that resulted in five volleys of tear gas from police, in blasts that seemed to intensify with each round, over a roughly three-hour stretch of evening scuffles.
The site was among numerous camps that have sprung up around the country as protesters rally against corporate greed and a wide range of other economic issues. The protests have attracted a wide range of people, including college students, business owners, republicans and democrates alike. The Oakland conflict began much earlier in the day when police dismantled an encampment of Occupy Wall Street protesters that had dominated a plaza across the street from the government building for more than two weeks. Police fired tear gas and beanbag rounds, clearing out the makeshift city in less than an hour.
Hours after nightfall Tuesday evening, protesters had gathered at a downtown library and began marching toward City Hall in an attempt to re-establish a presence in the area of the disbanded camp. They were met by police officers in riot gear. Several small skirmishes broke out and officers cleared the area by firing tear gas. The scene repeated itself several times just a few blocks away in front of the plaza, where police set up behind metal barricades, preventing protesters from gaining access to the site.
EDITORIAL: We supported Lybian Rebels when their people were attacked by their Government … Why aren’t we protecting our own people? Make this stop! Join the 99 Percent Movemnet … Let’s get our country back!
The “99 Percent Movement” Goes Global – Occupy the World!
The Occupy Wall Street M
ovement with its “We Are the 99 Percent” theme recently became a global movement on October 15, with protests popping up in China, Japan, Europe, and Mexico, as well as many U.S. cities, including Tampa and Los Angeles.
The New York Times recently reported that the protests are neither entirely coordinated, nor entirely spontaneous. Their messages are consistent: the creep of austerity (greedy rich people) and the continued anguish of the global middle class in the developed world after the Great Recession. The motifs are also familiar. The Guy Fawkes masks. The 99 Percent signs. In Rome, the protests did turned violent briefly, but they were mostly peaceful throughout the world. The New York Times reports thousands of people marching across several continents, “including in Sydney, Australia; Tokyo; Hong Kong; Toronto; Chicago; and Los Angeles, where several thousand people marched to City Hall as passing drivers cheerfully honked their support.” The 99 Percent Movement is clearly building momentum fast.
“Occupy Wall Street” Celebrates One Month
“Occupy Wall Street” Hits One Month Mark!
“Occupy Wall Street” Spreads to Over 100 US Cities
Movement For Economic Justice Gains Global Momentum
Liberty Square, New York, NY — One month ago today about 2,000 people rallied in Lower Manhattan and marched up Broadway. Stopping at Zuccotti Park an estimated 150 stayed the night and began an encampment. Renaming the space “Liberty Square,” we kicked off a protest against bank bailouts, corporate greed, and the unchecked power of Wall Street in Washington. In the last month, the message of “We are the 99%” has won the hearts and minds of over half of Americans (according to a recent Time survey) and is gaining ground globally, with 1500 protests in 82 countries this past Saturday (October 15).
“I am here to celebrate the 30th day of this protest against corporate power,” said Karanja Gacuca from Liberty Square, a former Wall Street analyst who now organizes with Occupy Wall Street. “Concerned about the egregious Wall Street bonuses — particularly after the industry accepted a tax-payer bailout and the middle class continues to be squeezed — I believe it’s time for a fairer system that provides health care, education, and opportunity for all, and rejects corporate influence over government.”
Inspired by the uprisings across the Arab world, and fueled by the feelings of anger and helplessness of everyday Americans, in the past month Occupy Wall Street has:
- Gone Global: On October 15th, protests were held from North and South America to Asia, Africa and Europe, with over 1,500 events in 82 countries, as part of a global day of action.
- Flourished with Diversity: Occupiers of different ages, races, walks of life, and political beliefs have joined the movement. The mix grew quickly to include students, elderly people, families with children, construction workers on their lunch breaks, unemployed Wall Street executives, Iraq & Afghanistan veterans, moms, and many others.
- Gained Support in the Heartland: Occupy actions are happening all across middle America, from Kethcum, ID to Kalamazoo, MI, from Orlando to Anchorage. Every day financial contributions arrive along with clothes, food, and notes of support from all across the country. A couple from West Virginia who have been sending supplies to Liberty Square occupiers writes: “We are so grateful for all of you involved in this defense of America. We firmly believe this is ‘it.’ If we can’t grab this democracy this time, we’ll sink and it will be a long time before we will have this opportunity again. Thank you for taking time from your busy life to be there.”
- Changed the Conversation: The people-powered force of shared anger at a broken system that profits the top 1% at the expense of the rest of us has shifted our national dialogue. The Occupy Wall Street protest has become a cultural phenomenon, mentioned everywhere from jokes on Saturday Night Live to the solemn dedication the national memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by President Obama Sunday. We, the occupiers, have shown our country how to come together and respect differences while working together to build a movement for change.
What a month, and we are only getting started!
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.
Credit to: Posted Oct. 17, 2011, 8:20 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
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Five Policies Eric Cantor Should (But Probably Won’t) Embrace To Reduce Income Inequality
(Credit to: Tanya Somanader on Oct 18, 2011 at 6:05 pm)
With income inequality at its highest level in the U.S. since the Great Depression, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) finally agreed this week that “there is too much income disparity.” On Friday, he will deliver a speech on income inequality and “how Republicans believe the government could help fix it.”
Currently, his two major ideas center on relying on the wealthy and “mak[ing] sure the people at the the top stay there.” But in case he’s legitimately considering the issue, we’d like to be helpful and offer five tangible ways Cantor and Congress could effectively address income disparity:
1. Promote Unionization: Unions are a key building block of a strong middle-class, ensuring fair wages and treatment of working families. Research shows that today’s union workers make about $2.50 more per hour than their non-union counterparts. However, union membership has seen a sharp decline in membership over the past forty years, matched by an significant drop in the middle class’s share of the nation’s income, while America’s wealthy take their largest share of national income in over 80 years. If unionization rates were just 10 percent higher, the Center for American Progress found that a “typical middle class household would earn $1,479 more every year.” Cantor’s home state of Virginia’s unionization rate currently stands at 4.7 percent. If it was 10 percent, Virginia’s middle class families would gain over $3 billion in income.
2. Rein in CEO Pay: Executive pay continues to greatly outpace worker’s wages, with CEOs at America’s largest companies earning 343 times more than the typical worker. Indeed, “the largest single chunk of the highest-income earners, it turns out, are executives and other managers in firms.” And while executive pay has “more than quadrupled” since the 1970s, pay for a typical worker “has dropped more than 10 percent” over the same period. 90 percent of major U.S. companies “expressly set their executive pay targets at or above the median pay,” which for “top executives” stands at about $4.9 million.
3. Fair, Progressive Tax Reform: Preferential tax treatment for America’s wealthy is a driving force behind income inequality. The Bush tax cuts that Republicans continually fight for increased the economic divide “by delivering more than half of their benefits in 2010 to the top 10 percent of earners, who make over $170,000 a year.” In fact, 25 percent of millionaires in the U.S. pay a lower effective tax rate than 10.4 million middle-class Americans because of favorable tax treatment. Overall, the working poor are actually paying a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthy in 49 states. If Cantor would champion progressive tax policies like the Buffett rule, it would put every taxpayer on a more equal footing and help to alleviate the income disparity.
4. Increase the Capital Gains Tax Rate: As TP Economy editor Pat Garofalo notes, capital gains (including stock, bonds, and real estate profits) “are almost exclusively made by the very wealthy and are taxed at lower rates than wages and salaries,” which serves to drive income inequality. Over the past 20 years, more than 80 percent of capital gains income in the U.S. has gone to the top 5 percent. Because the capital gains tax is capped at 15 percent, “anyone making more than $34,500 a year in wages and salary is taxed at a higher rate than a billionaire is taxed on untold millions in capital gains.” If Cantor — who currently champions reducing this tax rate — really wants to address the disparity, he’ll reconsider this position.
5. Promote Economic Mobility Through Education: Economic mobility is a bedrock principle of American society. But a recent report found that Americans face widespread “downward mobility,” with one in three middle-class Americans slipping down the income ladder. This trend, along with general income inequality, stifles economic growth which, in turn, hampers mobility. As the Brookings Institute notes, promoting education is a vital way to “boost the mobility of children from poor and low-income families.” Cantor — who voted against bolstering Pell Grants, reducing student loan payment rates, and believes preventing teacher layoffs is not a priority — may ignore this as well.
Most of these policies would require Cantor to reject the entire portfolio of GOP talking points and thus are unlikely to make it into his speech. However, if he is serious about finding a solution for income disparity, he should start by recognizing the problems behind it.
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Join The 99 Percent Movement!